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LIndy Hop has to be good for you,
You can't help but smile while doing it!
Lindy Hop offers:
* Great health benefits
* A remarkable social interaction experience
* An inclusive activity for families and individuals
* It's a new skill set you have FUN refining
* It's all ages -- Denver's dancers range between 10 and 80!
Yes, there is a learning curve - every thing you've ever learned (tying your shoes, driving a car, Algebra) has taken time.
Once you're comfortable with the basics, you can become an accomplished social dancer, try performance-styled dancing that's embellished with aerial movements, or maybe work towards competitive dancing.
The 'family' includes dances like Balboa, Blues and Shag, as well as group line dances like the Shim Sham, the Big Apple, and the Jitterbug Stroll.
These are all part of the dancing you'll see at every one of metro Denver's FIVE nights of dancing, and five amazing venues EVERY week!
You can't help but smile while doing it!
Lindy Hop offers:
* Great health benefits
* A remarkable social interaction experience
* An inclusive activity for families and individuals
* It's a new skill set you have FUN refining
* It's all ages -- Denver's dancers range between 10 and 80!
Yes, there is a learning curve - every thing you've ever learned (tying your shoes, driving a car, Algebra) has taken time.
Once you're comfortable with the basics, you can become an accomplished social dancer, try performance-styled dancing that's embellished with aerial movements, or maybe work towards competitive dancing.
The 'family' includes dances like Balboa, Blues and Shag, as well as group line dances like the Shim Sham, the Big Apple, and the Jitterbug Stroll.
Lindy Hop is a social activity where you're meeting new people, making new friends, developing a new skill set, and it's WAY cheaper than your cable bill or renting from NetFlix.
And get this... You don't need a partner for the lessons or the dances, everyone dances with everyone!
Talk about affordable — the most 'expensive' night of dancing doesn't even get close to the cost of going out to a movie.
As a beginning dancer, few things can compare with that rapturous feeling you have the first time you dance through an entire song!!
And get this... You don't need a partner for the lessons or the dances, everyone dances with everyone!
As a beginning dancer, few things can compare with that rapturous feeling you have the first time you dance through an entire song!!
You already own what you need to get started.
Dress shoes with leather soles work, but they offer minimal interior cushioning to make 3-4 hours of dancing pleasurable. I strongly recommend an old pair of tennis shoes (sneakers). They've got great cushioning on hardwood floors
(ask basketball players) .
Then there's the issue of rubber gripping. Lots of Lindy Hoppers (myself included) use Duct Tape
on the bottoms of their shoes. This creates a smooth surfaced, comfortable and most importantly, very affordable pair of dance shoes. I also suggest women wear flats, as opposed to ANY type of heeled shoes.
Dancing generates body heat so people dress for comfort. I prefer shirts made with a wicking material —
like runner's shirts. I'm 'fashion-ignorant' to what's appropriate for women, but comfort should ALWAYS be the determining factor.
So do yourself a favor, get out of the house and meet me on the dance floor! Use the menu to the right to get more answers, and please feel to contact me if you have further questions.
Dress shoes with leather soles work, but they offer minimal interior cushioning to make 3-4 hours of dancing pleasurable. I strongly recommend an old pair of tennis shoes (sneakers). They've got great cushioning on hardwood floors
Then there's the issue of rubber gripping. Lots of Lindy Hoppers (myself included) use Duct Tape
Dancing generates body heat so people dress for comfort. I prefer shirts made with a wicking material —
- Hi! I'm David and I'd like to teach you Lindy Hop.
To me it's really simple: I like socializing. I'm one of those people who doesn't mind a crowd and I've always kept a large circle of friends. I love dancing; dancing is very social; so partner dancing is almost nirvana for me. I believe Lindy Hop is one of a few activities where strangers come together to create something beautiful, and I like sharing that. I was taught that I shouldn't expect a Follow to follow a movement if I couldn't lead it. A partner who rotated to me in a class said "Do you want to do what you're suppose to do or lead me to do something?". This was brilliant to me.
Therefore, I focus on teaching movements that can be lead and followed by anyone familiar with Lindy Hop -- NOT just with the people who happen to be in a specific class of mine. I couple that with stressing the importance of maintaining a goodFrame and a consistent Connection with your partner, to enable dancers in leading and following these movements. I work to dance with EVERYONE who takes my classes, Follows & Leads.
This gives me first-hand feedback on the effectiveness of my teaching methods. I love teaching and would appreciate the chance to show you the magic of Lindy Hop. Click here for more details about my classes. - Lindy Hop was so named after Charles Lindbergh's flight to Paris in 1927, when the newspaper headline read: "LINDY HOPS THE ATLANTIC". The dance has no 'hop' in it. On the contrary, it is smooth and solid, and while there is a constant rhythmic 8-count 'pulse' that you feel in your bones, there is no hopping, bopping, or prancing in the dance.
Lindy Hop, also known as Jitterbug, is the authentic Afro-Euro-American Swing dance. It is an unabashedly joyful dance, with a solid, flowing style that closely reflects its music — from the late 20's hot Jazz to the early 40's Big Bands. Just as Jazz combines European and African musical origins, Lindy Hop draws on African and European dance traditions. The embracing hold, and the turns from Europe, the breakaway and solid, earthy body posture from Africa. The dance evolved along with the new swing music, based on earlier dances such as the Charleston and the Black Bottom, by black people in Harlem.Lindy Hop is a social dance. Partners are connected smoothly and gently to each other, while relating closely to the music, in feeling, improvisation and phrasing. The core tempo range is 120-180 beats per minute.
Films such as Hellzapoppin and Day at the Races, as well as Malcolm X and Swingkids show seemingly reckless airsteps (aerials), often done at very fast musical tempos. Far from being just acrobatic antics, airsteps are in fact smooth, extremely precise, and perfectly in synch with the music. They require a superb degree of expertise and are not danced socially, but only for performance, if only inside a protective ring of spectators, as in the Cats' Corner jams at theSavoy Ballroom. Airsteps are impressive and spectacular, so that's what you see in the movies!
Savoy style Lindy Hop, as taught by Frankie Manning and Steven Mitchell, has the lightest, gentlest, and smoothest connection of all the common Swing dances! It is solid, low, relaxed and energetic.
Just as Swinging Jazz music feels very different from, say, Rockabilly music, Lindy Hop feels very different from other dances, such as West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, Jive, and Rock'N'Roll-Jitterbug, especially in posture, partner connection, and musical connection.
Lindy Hop is a Jazz dance. Jazz is dancing music. Swing is Jazz music.
History © and courtesy of http://dancing.org/
